Hi there,
This week's lead is one paramedic in rural Texas who decided she was the missing piece between 911 and everything else. Programs like hers mostly run on grants and local budgets, and one in Virginia is about to watch its grant run out. Colorado just took a different route, and Medicaid there starts paying in January.
Table of Contents:
A one-person community paramedic program in rural Texas, one year in
A $4.3M Nevada award, Sacramento's $12.5M frequent-caller bill, and a Virginia program losing its grant
Funding Watch: $50K grants in California, and two new RHTP-funded teams in North Carolina
Region of the Week: Colorado, where Medicaid starts paying for treat-in-place January 1
Read Time: 4 minutes
Program Spotlight
Robertson County, Texas, has no grocery delivery and one pharmacist who delivers two days a week. So people called 911 for refills and rides. Community paramedic Mika Isbell now picks up prescriptions, drives patients to appointments and drops off groceries herself. On one visit a man met her at the door and told her he knew exactly who she was and why she was there.
Isbell sees four to six patients a day, visits she says would otherwise be missed appointments. When she started, an online search for local resources turned up six. The full story shows how that list grew to fill a room, and what she's adding next with new telehealth gear from Texas Tech. The county is hiring for its expanding team through October 16.
Who to Contact:
Robertson County EMS Community Health Paramedic Program (Mika Isbell, Community Paramedic): [email protected] or (979) 828-9940 (district main line)
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Program Roundup
One County Just Got $4.3M. Another Program Is About to Lose Its Grant.
Central Lyon Fire's share buys an MIH ambulance, a quick response vehicle and three paramedic positions, with no local match. The chief's report explains why the district is building protocols before it hires anyone, a sequence worth stealing.
Those 79 people generated 5,191 EMS responses and ate up 12% of the city's EMS time each year. Assistant Chief Ryan Tweltridge explains the alternative response program the department is building in response.
The program costs about $200,000 a year and a $123,000 local grant expires at the end of 2026, while Virginia Medicaid still doesn't pay for the visits. Nearby Pulaski County took a different route that's working so far.
Resources
Funding Watch
California: $50,000 community paramedicine grants, rolling. The CARESTAR Foundation funds LEMSAs with an approved community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination program, first come first served, by invitation.
Just funded: Columbus County, NC is using a $419,625 state RHTP grant for its first 24/7 MIH and community paramedic unit, and Brunswick County, NC opened bids on a vehicle for its $210,988 RHTP-funded program. If your state hasn't opened a round yet, ask your state Office of Rural Health when it will.
On the Calendar
Ohio Mobile Integrated Healthcare Workshop, Columbus, November 6. A one-day, hands-on session on starting or growing a program, from protocols to billing. Register by November 1.
Colorado State EMS Conference, Keystone, November 5 to 8.
National Conference on EMS, Atlantic City, November 17 to 20.
Now Hiring
Community Health Paramedic (CMED), Colorado Springs Fire Department. $59,370 to $71,273. Closes October 19.
Community Paramedic, Franklin County EMS, Louisburg, NC. $56,517 to $59,343. Closes October 26.
Advanced Practice Paramedic, MIH, Onslow County Emergency Services, Jacksonville, NC. $59,051 to $76,752.
Region of the Week: Colorado
Colorado is about to become one of the easier states to pay for community paramedicine. Under HB26-1069, signed June 2, Medicaid starts reimbursing EMS on January 1, 2027 for treatment on scene with no transport, and for trips to destinations other than the ER. The EMS Association of Colorado plans a 2027 bill to bring commercial insurers along.
The startup money is landing too. Colorado's first round of Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) awards sent $169.6 million to 91 rural providers in 52 rural and frontier counties. One of them, EMS Unlimited in Rifle, got $587,604 for a Garfield County community paramedic who will have a physician on a telehealth link during home visits.